Retractable safety needles have been described in our prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,783, issued June 30, 1987. These needles prevent needlestick injury for intravenous (IV) needles which are used to administer medication or other fluids into a patient's veins.
Other types of needles pose serious health risks to health care workers who are required to handle them.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,606,734 shows an outer tubular member 23 having flanges 29, 39.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,294,249 shows the basic "Y" connection for intravenous lines.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,474,351 shows a sheath 10 used for connecting a vial.
Needlestick injury is also a threat during heparin IV injections, particularly because of the number of times the needles have to be handled, assembled and disassembled. Some references that may be relevant are as follows:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,592,745 shows a dispenser having two body sections and a plunger.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,281,653 shows a screw-in plunger 5.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,116,196 shows a needle having inner and outer points and a plunger that moves a body of fluid toward the inner point and diaphragm 24.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,439,184 shows a two-dose syringe in which a plunger-driven piston 26 forces fluid from two chambers through a cannula, but not a needle. The device is intended for urethral catheterization.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,044,758 shows a two-compartment syringe with a needle 56 used to puncture a membrane separating the tubes. The liquids are an irrigation liquid and a contrast medium.
Unintentional needlestick injuries are extremely common in health care workers (nurses, physicians, laboratory workers, housekeeping personnel, etc.). Needlestick exposures can result in transmission of hepatitis B, non A non B hepatitis, and potentially, the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) or other transmissible diseases. Needlestick injuries are a greater risk for health care workers in the 1980's than ever before. Furthermore, each reported needlestick injury costs the health care provider time and money.
Unintentional needlestick injuries can occur when doctors, nurses, I.V. technicians or other hospital workers impale themselves on needles used to connect an auxiliary intravenous line (I.V.) to an auxiliary port on the primary I.V. line. The needlesticks occur when the auxiliary I.V. line inadvertently pulls apart from the primary I.V. line and the health care worker is stuck by the exposed needle dangling at the end of the auxiliary line. The problem is three-fold. First, a common, unprotected hypodermic needle is used to join the two I.V. lines which, by its design, presents a considerable hazard of needlestick. Second, there is no catching mechanism to keep the two lines firmly attached so inadvertent separation of the two lines is a frequent occurrence with considerable risk of needlestick when the exposed needle dangles at the end of the separated line. Third, disposal is difficult because a sharp needle is left attached to an unwieldly intravenous line. Therefore, a new design for I.V. line connectors is urgently needed to provide protection from exposure to the needle and also to secure the connections between I.V. lines.
A related problem is the risk of needlesticks when injecting medication into an I.V. port. Currently, a common hypodermic needle/syringe assembly is used to draw medication from a vial and inject it into an I.V. port or I.V. catheter port. Health care workers sustain needlestick injuries when they try to recap the hypodermic needle to protect themselves from it or when the device is jostled after use or by other accidental means. A safety design is urgently needed for needles used to inject medications into I.V. ports or I.V. catheter ports, to protect health care workers from the danger of these exposed, contaminated needles.
The heparin flush is a special case of hazard of needlestick when injecting into I.V. ports. The current heparin flush procedure requires a succession of three syringes, one to inject the medication, a second to inject a saline solution, and a third to inject a heparin solution. The procedure produces three exposed hypodermic needles that must be carefully disposed of. Because of the extensive handling of needles, the risks of needlestick are very high during and after this procedure. Furthermore, in most hospitals, the syringes used for the saline and heparin solutions must be assembled before use and disassembled after use, which greatly increases the hazard of needlestick and also is awkward and inconvenient for the employee performing the procedure. Therefore, safety improvements for the heparin flush are urgently needed to reduce the exposure of health care workers to exposed needles, to eliminate the need to manually disassemble a contaminated item, and to simplify the handling of needled devices while performing this procedure.